AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi called up the Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary on Sunday and registered his protest over the demolition of mosques, dargahs and graveyards in Krishna district in the name of road widening works.

Demanding severe action against the revenue officials responsible for the demolitions, he said that the actions of the AP government were ‘illegal and arbitrary’. Revenue authorities demolished the Masjid-e-Ali at Eidpugalu village of Kankipadu mandal in the early hours of Sunday despite a stay order from the court, the MP said, adding that the authorities forcibly remitted the ‘so-called’ compensation amount in the masjid’s bank account.

“No mosque can be shifted or demolished as it becomes the property of Allah. Even the one who built it has no right to decide on its shifting or demolition,” Owaisi said.“Since May 2016, revenue authorities have resorted to arbitrary demolition of mosques, dargahs and graveyards in Krishna district and the centuries-old Masjid-e-Abu Bakr, Hazrat Hussain Shah Quadri and Syed Shah Quadri dargahs and masjids, Jame masjid, Hazrat Shah Zahoor Musafir dargah, Tarapet masjid and Jannatul Firdous graveyard were demolished under utter violation of laws for protection of religious places ignoring the stay orders of courts and AP State Wakf Board,” he said, adding that local Muslims had also protested against the government action.

Owaisi had also written to the AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in May 2016 and again in May 2017 against the ‘arbitrary demolitions of places of worship and action of the revenue authorities in forcibly acquiring the lands for the so-called road widening and flyover works’.

The MIM president demanded that Naidu immediately stop the demolition of Muslim places of worship, initiate action against revenue officials responsible and order the reconstruction of mosques, dargahs and graveyards demolished so far, an MIM press release said on Sunday.